Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 Stars!

We Are Family is an emotional tale of Jess and Laura dealing with their mother's death, their own lives, and most importantly their relationship with each other. The characters feel real, the good, the bad, and the very ugly are all tangled in this story. Gill really captures how difficult and complex family relationships can be. As much as they love each other, Laura works on setting the appropriate boundaries with Jess and Jess begins to let Laura into her (not-so) perfect life. This is definitely a story to read with some tissues.

This is a book I got through Netgalley and gives us Laura’s viewpoint as she tries to negotiate her way through grief, sibling rivalry and a relationship that doesn’t seem to be working anymore.

Laura has a fairly relaxed attitude to things from means that her life has become something she doesn’t really recognise. Having lived with constant put downs and rejection from her mother Laura tries to deal with her grief towards her mum and their fractured relationship whilst trying to keep things together.

Add to this a sister who seems to have the perfect life, perfect children and perfect relationship and it just makes Laura feel even more of a failure. But as we all know, what you see isn’t always the reality.

Over time cracks begin to show in Jess’s perfect life and Laura starts to find her confidence again. Both pushing themselves in ways they never thought, their relationship changes and becomes more honest and true. There is clear affection between the sisters once they realise that they are both different, both have their flaws and neither should be compared to the other.

As they pick their way through memories of the past Laura finds her truth and is able to look to the future with positivity, strength and confidence.

On the whole I really enjoyed this story and found Laura a likable character, as is Jess once we get to see the real her. As for the mother, she really is a piece of work and I found it hard to feel anything but dislike for her and the way she treated Laura.

The one thing that stopped me from giving this 5 stars is that the ending all seemed to happen in a bit of a rush. It had taken a lot of getting to know the characters, that I felt there were a number of questions I was left with at the end of it. Personally I like my books to have a nice neat and tidy ending with little interpretation for what the future will be, but that is just me.

I was given the opportunity to read this book through netgalley thanks to the author and publishers.
I read the description of this book and instantly felt drawn to it. I'm sure lots of other people also felt that it was very similar to relationships in their lives too. It felt the characters and life stories were very believable and realistic. I found myself feeling very sorry and agreeing with Laura whilst at the same time thinking that her sister jess may also have felt similar in their past too. Relatable enjoyable from start to finish.

The equation of the sisters is very realistic and is not melodramatic thankfully because sisters in homes don't have such extreme feelings towards each other. What couldn't keep me engaged was the sudden change in the mood of the writing and the slow narrative and even if slow did not engage me much because the past and present were very contradicting in the nature of the writing of the characters. This book could have been much better. The skeltons in the closet kept me invested but I think I was looking for more in the story of sisters.

The book was okay. Nothing fantastic. A light read that dragged on for way too long in my opinion. It didn't stand out in any way.

I adored this book! This story follows two sisters, Jessica & Laura, and after a difficult loss, you see them come together. Every day family life, issues, relationships are tied to this wonderful book. I can totally relate to this book as having lost my sister and my mom, but this book still had me laughing at times! Such an easy read! Thank you Netgalley for a change to read this book for an honest review!

This is the first book I have read by the author Nicola Gill, although I have heard good things about her previous work ‘The Neighbours’ which I will definitely consider reading in the future. I was very interested in the premise of We are Family after reading the books description, although I will say that I was slightly disappointed to find upon reading that this story is only told in the point of view from one of the sisters (Laura) and not both- I think it would have been very interesting to see both sides of the story, as this would have helped to build a connection with both characters and get a full overview of the relationship as it starts to build stronger.

With this story being about the relationship between the two sisters, it’s not too surprising that it is very character driven rather than being plot driven. There is a lot of character development throughout the book for both sisters, and I really did find myself warming to both of them towards the end of the book- they both have their own flaws which make them quite unlikeable at the start, so it was nice to end it with positive feelings towards them both. Whilst I can obviously appreciate a character-driven story, I felt that this one was really quite lacking in the plot department, although definitely not through lack of trying. There was almost too many plot points and attempts at ‘shock twists’ or ‘big reveals’, there was endless drama throughout the story, although nothing ever really got a satisfying resolution (for example this story briefly touches upon; anxiety and depression, break-ups, affairs, bullying, cancer scares and miscarriage. This feels like quite a lot given it’s not a particularly long book).

I thought that We are Family was a really good exploration of grief and how it affects people differently, and I enjoyed the dynamic between the two sisters and the efforts to heal their relationship. However, I did find myself thinking it all felt a little long and dragged out at times, so with all things considered I have decided to give this book a rating of 3/5 stars.

I struggled with this one, as I found myself having trouble connecting with either of the sisters. If I can't connect with/root for the main character(s) in some way, then it becomes hard to enjoy a book.

Apologies for the late review.

A great debut novel. If you've brothers and/or sisters, you're sure to emphasise with Laura and Jess. You'll smile and cring at the same time as you laugh ouut loud. Very well recommended!

My thanks to Netgalley and Avon for the reading copy.

*tw death of a parent, cancer*

I much preferred this book to Nicola Gills previous one, The Neighbours and feel it had the right mix of joy and sadness? Also it felt a lot like "real life" with things going wrong and not always instantly being fixed which I liked a lot and is often missing from books?

This book follows two sisters who are very different yet similar. Laura is laid back, lives in a flat with her partner and their little boy and doesn't worry too much if he doesn't have two veg along with his dinner. Jess on the other hand is a classic over achiever with her seemingly perfect marriage, house and two children.

When their mother dies the two sisters are left only with each other, their dad having died in an accident years ago, and so they try to work together to get through their grief. As expected they are unable to agree on anything and Laura feels like she is constantly chasing her tail trying to meet her sisters standards but as the book goes on we see Laura start to believe in her self and these changes have a big impact on a lot of things in her life.

Without giving any spoilers away I kind of worked out what was going to happen to some degree but that didn't make the book any less enjoyable, the sub plots that were happening around the main story also added to my want to keep reading!

As I said this book had the right mix to be almost like real life and the characters themselves were believable and likeable (or not in some cases!)

An enjoyable family drama. Really good exploration of the relationship between sisters, especially with a difficult mother. The writing flowed seamlessly and the characters were very well developed.

This was an interesting and absorbing story. It depicts the interactions of families and how it affects the future lives of the children. Some very normal characters that interact to bring the story to a realistic life. Very comprehensive and positive conclusion.

I loved this book and could not put it down. I laughed and cried in equal measure. I loved how they dealt with the topic of grief. Fantastic.

3.25/5 stars!

We Are Family by Nicola Gill was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020. I’ve been seeing Nicola’s books on my bookstagram feed a lot for the last few months, and I really wanted to try her books out. We Are Family’s blurb seemed really interesting, and I’m really glad that I got the chance to review it. As my personal rating shows, I ended up having mixed feelings about the book. It was a good read, nevertheless.

We Are Family is about the complicated relationship between two sisters, Laura and Jess, and how they figure out a way to make a new space for each other in their lives after their mother’s death. This book touched many complex issues that arise in a family, including favoritism among your own children, which was basically the background of Laura and Jess’ troubled feelings towards each other. I liked how the author didn’t try to sugar-coat any of the problems that the sisters faced, especially the ones with their mother, and wrote about a dysfunctional family in such a detailed manner. Themes of grief and self-worth were expressed perfectly in the book too. I loved seeing the sisters come closer to each other and fix their relationship gradually throughout the book. The ending was satisfactory and had a twist which added a dramatic touch to the storyline!

Things I didn’t like : This book had more of a character-driven storyline than a plot-driven one, which is why I didn’t enjoy it much as I wanted too. Since the book is only told through Laura’s POV, I felt that the book lacked the depth it needed for building up a story about two sisters. I wanted to know more about Jess and her life too. Laura was not a really likable character in the first half of the book either, which made me think about not finishing the book at times. The last few chapters were a bit rushed too, a lot of things kept happening all at once.

Overall, if you’re a fan of family dramas and character-driven books, you can pick We Are A Family up!

I really enjoyed this book! This is my first book by Nicola Gill and it will not be my last! I loved this sister aspect in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher of the advanced digital copy of this book!

Amé esta historia! Los personajes, la ambientación, la relación entre ellos.

We are family nos da una linda visión de todo lo que las relaciones interpersonales deben ser.

Sadly I didn’t warm to either of the sisters... it felt too contrived and didn’t ‘speak’ to me in the way that I thought it would based on the blurb!! Other people have loved this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. Struggled to the finish... 2*

This is a story of two sisters, Jess & Laura. While Jess is the perfect sister, with the perfect family and her life all sorted, Laura is laid back with a more casual approach to life. The girls had lost their father while they were young and now their mother is dead.
While the sisters try to come to terms with the loss in their own ways, they still don't see eye to eye on many things.
The story is mainly from Laura's PoV and her estranged relationship with her mother and how she feels alienated.
There is grief, coping mechanisms (Gaviscon), few laughs, a bit of bullying and finally all's well that ends well because We are Family
Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC

a thought-provoking book about relationships and family love. i was struck by the topic this book opened out, and i had to stop at times and think about my own situation. my first read from this author, would love to check out more works from her, and this is a solid read, a recommend, and it's just a good balance, i'd like to emphasize that at least. and this book might be a miss for some, and "it" for others, but just give it a try.

I found this books contents very thought provoking on many relationship level. Parents, sibling, partners, children, friends and work colleagues all on different levels of your consciousness and how you view and approach every single one of them.
I enjoyed the build up of the story, and the flashbacks that came to mind, leading you through the months, however, I found the end of the story to be rushed, and was left feeling quite deflated and wanting more information about Laura and her life after the final revelation regarding her father.